HOUSTON, TEXAS -- Me and my wife’s vacation was largely ruined by the aggravation and inconvenience the lack of true customer service United Airlines caused on a planned trip to Burlington Vermont.
The flights were overbooked to start as we received notice the night before when doing on-line check in. We checked our bags at the counter at MCO. Unproblematic flight. The nightmare begins in Newark. We get a text message to contact an agent when we disembark from the plane as UA4894 was canceled by air traffic control. Problem is, no one was there to deal with passengers, the few agents manning the whole terminal were facing long lines and many many counters were simply empty. Telling folks to contact an agent but not having nearly enough agents is just the start of this saga. The next text we get is to tell us we are rebooked for Saturday morning leaving at 930 am which is two days later. My wife gets in line at what seems to be a “service counter” which has 5 or 6 stations but only two agents, and in excess of 50 people in line which is not moving at all.

I call UA while my wife is in line and it is virtually impossible to get a person. This is part of the grand design, as this theme will repeat over and over again. My wife never does get through the line, but after 49 minutes per my cell phone records, I got through the endless wait time for an agent on the phone and started considering an alternate flight with a partner that would have put us in BTV around 1130 pm after flying via Washington D.C. No help form the automated kiosk for rerouting which is only telling us the Saturday flight is our only option.

However, in the meanwhile due to nearly 30 passengers being in line, my wife and I learn UA agent is offering a bus to transport to BTV (6 hour ride) but it would get us to BTV by around 800 pm. Several individuals including us asked about the baggage (my medication unfortunately was in my checked baggage). The agents actually refused to release our baggage, offering some assurances or promises that while there was no room for us on a 500 pm flight (still not sure why our flight could not just take off later as other planes were leaving all day long), but there was room for our baggage and it would be there before our bus would arrive and we would just have to claim it. That would be the first of multiple lies. To be fair, it seems different things were told to different people at different times, with some being told they had no idea when baggage would arrive and it could well be Saturday or Sunday. We were in the group that was refused luggage release and assured the bags would be there. This was important to me due to my medication.

Well, if things went according to promises there would be no letter. We would just lose the half day and suffer the fatigue of the bus trip. Evidently the gate agents there at BTV had no idea nearly thirty people would be showing up, betraying poor organization and communication and a careless disregard for traveling passengers. They had no idea what promises were or were not made about the baggage and there were some unhappy campers arriving late and tired at BTV. We were given claim forms to file. Our two bags got put under my wife’s name and given a file number (see above). The folks at BTV could provide no information or estimate on bag arrival.

We were told by the UA agent/employee/representative to contact the baggage resolution center, but to do this as soon as we could get Houston and “before the phones get turned over to India”. What an ominous warning and admission of the deliberately negligent and insufficient service delivered by UA. No such luck for us. It was immediately apparent we had India. After multiple repetitions of the issues and even 4 or 5 tries with the file number with someone who could not understand English I requested a supervisor….. lots of resistance to that, told they did not know when or if our luggage would arrive, or where it was despite my explaining this was critical to me due to the medication. Put on hold for a supervisor …. 11 minutes on hold then the call was disconnected, I redialed, tried again placed on hold again for supervisor, this time 14 minutes on hold with no supervisor – exhausted, I tried calling the Houston number which is provided as a second number on the file form… no luck, obviously India again.

Sent online forms using UA system for baggage problems and due to my concern about being without meds also the personal injury claim online:
Here is the only responses I have yet to receive now 5 days later:
*** This is an automated response confirming the receipt of your email. Please do not reply ***

Thank you for contacting United Airlines. Your message has been received and will be directed to a member of our Baggage Resolution team for review and research. For any questions related to this message, please reference case ID: 6758153
*** This is an automated response confirming the receipt of your email. Please do not reply ***
Thank you for contacting United Airlines. Your message has been received and will be directed to a member of our Baggage Resolution team for review and research. For any questions related to this message, please reference case ID: 6756534
*** This is an automated response confirming the receipt of your email. Please do not reply ***
Thank you for contacting United Airlines. Your message has been received and will be directed to a member of our Baggage Resolution team for review and research. For any questions related to this message, please reference case ID: 6752612
*** This is an automated response confirming the receipt of your email. Please do not reply ***
Please use this Case ID number if you need to contact us regarding this inquiry: 6750214
Thank you for contacting United Airlines. Our Customer Care team is currently responding to most inquiries within 14-21 business days. If your message is regarding an upcoming trip, a baggage delay or about our MileagePlus frequent flier program, please refer to our helpful links below. We look forward to assisting you.
- Your United Airlines Customer Care team

So, that system is nothing but a mirage. The only thing worse than not providing customer service is making pretend you do. My vacation is now running into day two trying to get a guess of when I can get my clothes supplies and medicine. We already miss one dinner, and I spend 38 minutes Friday morning finally getting a supervisor. Supervisor seems more understanding of the urgency of getting an answer on luggage delivery but cannot explain the initial lie, or why a second bus could not have taken the luggage, or the same bus could not have made a second trip to Vermont with a fresh driver. Supervisor tries to call Newark to find out if sending a bus with the luggage is possible, but (scroll back to how many people are actually there to make pretend customer service is important)…..cant get anyone in Newark despite a long hold. We get authorization to buy some clothes, I ask for at least $150 each which he “approves”.

We cancel plans for the rest of the morning (it is now Friday around 1100 pm) and are now in the second long day in our clothing (all my clothes were in my bag along with some of my wife’s as I was carrying business papers a laptop and photography equipment in my carry-ons). My wife had no carry ons other as she does not want to lug anything. Her things are split between her checked bag and mine. Both of us are in light casual Florida summer wear and we head off to get replace Vermont rainy cold weather clothes and shoes / some supplies we had packed in our baggage which still has no known time for delivery (We were told there were no Newark Flights to VT till Saturday) but no assurance it would be on that flight. Also told we were misinformed that Houston handles any baggage claim service, and that they (India) are the only providers or people to talk to.
I had my doubts since the small flights had been overbooked and there was no apparent room on the 500 pm flight 6/12/14. My faith and belief of anything emanating out of UA is fading and my wife complaining she would never fly UA again. Not a great start to vacation.

At the hotel lobby we get some info on where to get some clothing and told that the same thing happened to the hotel clerk and this apparently happened to a number of her friends – getting bused and no luggage sent with them. We call relatives in the area and one took a taxi on a return trip from Houston and her husband delayed for 10 hours on return from California. This was just the beginning of countless UA BTV nightmares we collected.

Get to the mall to get at least some clothes. We are now soaked in our 2 day Florida clothes. I am not a big clothes shopper, but it becomes quickly clear to me shoes suitable for the planned activities, dinner clothes, and other items are going to be a lot more than $150 each, never mind women’s clothes, shoes and wife’s needs. Search the UA baggage claim thing on the internet for the phone number and baggage policy limit which is $3500. I try to call Baggage claim, obviously India again. Have real trouble communicating. I told her we were coming from Newark to BTV, then she would ask where were you coming from. Either not listening or not comprehending. She refuses to speak with me or help me, claiming she cannot find my file without my file number (a lie) and that without the file number she cannot let me talk to a supervisor (another lie, and not impossible, its either a policy or wanton obstruction). Cannot tell me what baggage claim rights I have, a number of someone at UA to complain to, a legal department number, a complaint department number, or confirm that the baggage claim limit listed on the baggage claim website is accurate or pertains. Thus the baggage claim department cannot state or confirm baggage claim rights, rules or responsibilities.

I am continuing to be upset now since there is nothing but poor baggage claim service and deliberate obstruction in trying to get to superiors who might be able to understand English or are empowered to do anything, Its now well into Friday afternoon and we are not starting any of our “vacation”. The mall does not have anything my size (I am 2xl to 3xl) but my wife finds a few things, so we head downtown to see if we can find shoes/sneakers other needs and eventually pick up what we need before making a final stop to get some toiletries before heading to the hotel to change. We get a call on the way to the hotel that someone is delivering our baggage. Would have been nice to know that before we spent the day running around for clothes and supplies, but I think at least don’t have to stop at a pharmacy to see if I can get meds before my doctors office closes on
Friday.

Wrong. Wife’s bag is there, but only has some of her stuff, as the rest is in my bag, and worse for me, my meds are in my bag. There is no way to call UA in BTV, in fact I learn there are no phone numbers on the internet for any UA local gates – it all goes to the 1800 system. In short to ask if my bag got left behind in BTV while my wife’s was delivered, I have to call, gulp, India again???, and India seems to have no more luck getting a hold of any UA agents at the airports than I do. This time I desperately try to get an agent and make it through to someone in the U.S. Express my gratitude for that and she seems to understand why I refuse to let her transfer me back to baggage claim in India. She learns my bag is still in Newark and that in fact an error was made at MCO where my bag claim number was assigned to my wife’s bag and her bag claim number to mine (a homeland security issue when you can’t even get the bags to match up right with the passengers – careless at least) and that my bag as of Friday night when we got back to the hotel was still in Newark. She could find out exactly where it was by calling the million miles phone line. Evidently that can be done, but not by the terribly useless baggage claim service which after lots of time could tell me nothing. She could not tell me when it would be delivered.

Saturday morning still no luck with getting answers from India baggage claim “service”. Supervisor unavailable. They can’t confirm the information I was provided the prior night. After holding for supervisor, told again no supervisor available. They promise supervisor will call me back, take all my contact numbers. That was another lie, NEVER got a call from a supervisor.
It’s the stuff Saturday Night Live parodies are made of: hang ups while on hold for supervisors, endless holds for supervisors, lies that supervisors will call back, internet forms to fill out that are never answered, no phone numbers for local airport UA, computer phone menus that only send you back to India, refusals of requests to speak to a department in the US or a department that can handle customer complaints, and lies about what your system can and can’t tell you (such as actually knowing where the bag is; being able to look up my account without the file number), and lies that there is even another bag claim service in the US.

Without my medication I really had to limit my food intake and activities we spent the day Saturday hiking, and attending commitments since at least now we had clothes and apparel appropriate for activities. I again don’t have my claim number with me but anxious about my medications and trying to determine if I need to go to a local ER or physician for an emergency supply of meds I call the dreaded baggage claim line. Surprise!!!! It’s Houston! Houston baggage claim!!! Evidently the wonderful folks in India had posted an early obituary on their American competition and frankly lied to me I could not call or deal with Houston. Lying and misinformation at this level is not just one misinformed trainee – this is systematic obstruction and delay.

Still no response from the on-line inquiries. Houston seems a bit confused as the system (consistent with what I could see on the computerized system) stating it was out for delivery and only noting one bag (evidently the system did not clear that my wife’s bag made it). They seemed reassuring anyway that somehow it was on its way, but could not tell me where it way.
Before returning to the hotel, since we did not get a call like we did the day before, raising my anxiety, I tried calling baggage claim again. Lightning did not strike twice, I did not get Houston again. I was patient and fortunate to have a little better service from India this time. She could inform me it was my black bag that was going to be delivered and that it would “go out for delivery” at 1130 pm, and I would get a call (as we did on Friday) while it was en route to the hotel. We never got the call and as we returned late a bit exhausted from the day’s activities and the endless calls and dealings with your system very much discouraged there was no call.

Fortunately the nice people at the Marriott hotel, all sympathetic as they all seem to have had personal UA nightmares or knew people who had, were exemplary in terms of great customer service. On sight, without our asking they announced my bag had arrived. So we got to enjoy Sunday without headaches of calls to your customer “service” before being cramped on return flights and having my right knee knocked by a flight attendant with a cart since though I am barely outside of normal height I cannot put my legs fully behind the seat with hyperextending my knee and suffering cramps.

So now though I had a busy day at the office after my not so restful or healthy vacation, I am spending hours filling in your claim forms, getting copies of what you require and writing this letter before I will spend some more time making copies and faxing the claim to whatever customer “service” handles these claims.

Now, the 1800 fax number for claims gives me a no signal message. Call....India again! They repeat that is the number. After getting irate at repeated attempts to make the operator understand I am not an idiot and can understand fax error messages, I ask for supervisor. No supervisor, but did get a different baggage claim fax number. My fax to them asked for them to acknowledge receipt of the fax when it arrived.... nearly 12 hours later, no response. Emailed UA counsel, president and other officials last night and 3x today. No reply.

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

"Network" Providers not available

Posted by Linda on 02/18/2014

Rating: 1/51

TREASURE COAST, FLORIDA -- As some may or may not be aware United Healthcare terminated 70% of the "Network" providers from their panels. Of course as an insured with UHC notification of this action was not given until after "Open Enrollment" ended thereby locking me in another year with UHC, had this information been available before "Open Enrollment" ended I would not be with UHC anymore however UHC carefully navigated the timing of the terminations of the network physicians so as not to become know till it was too late.
My experience began January 21, 2014 my doctor had ordered "fasting" blood work, I called the lab the day before just to be sure I knew where I was going and confirm the hours, of course there was nothing more than a recording providing the address, directions and hours they are open and informing me there would be no live person to speak to at this location (I should have know right then there was a problem) I arrived at the address provided yet there was no sign, no indication a lab was there upon checking with neighboring properties I was told the lab had closed "months ago". While standing right there I called UHC and after 25 minutes of checking of course I was told the lab was right there I mailed them a picture of the empty office and then was provided another location to go to have my fasting blood work done without even an apology, I arrive at the next location provide to me by UHC and again the lab had closed months ago, went through the same scenario with UHC and they sent me to a 3rd location where a lab should have been and yes believe it or not that location had also closed (Lab Corp was now the ONLY network lab for UHC they did not have to be convenient as we have no other choice) the fourth location was the charm. I arrived at the fourth location went to the reception desk to sign in on the sign in sheet for everyone that came in to see I had been there (so much for privacy) and was then told by the receptionist I would need to provide my credit card for them to copy and keep on file for any charges to be put on my credit card if not paid by UHC (now understand probably 80% of the time a charge is denied or not paid correctly and they would just put through the charge to my credit card leaving me to fight the battle with UHC and that being the least of the problems leaving your credit card on file for any "authorized" or maybe not even authorized person to use. NOT! I will not leave my credit card with anyone for an incase scenario. It is now 12:30PM and I am still fasting the room is spinning and I am feeling very light headed and still no blood work done because without my credit card there will be no blood work done. I finally left went down the street to our community hospital and had the blood work done and did not provide my credit card to be kept on file and we all know UHC is not going to pay them and I am screwed because UHC only allows Lab Corp as a "network" Lab... what other choice did I have? 3 Locations I was provided to go to by UHC turned out to no longer exist and the fourth wanted to keep a copy of my credit card just in case!
No the nightmare does not end there! I have been under treatment and had a Mohs surgery (for Basil Cell CA) done April 2013 had a couple of complications so January 2014 I was still under care for skin cancers or lesions that left go can become cancer. In December there was another lesion on my back this time I did not know UHC was terminating 70% of the network providers as of January 1, 2014 and my doctor was one of them I had an appointment the beginning of January so I mentioned it to the doctor his response was "this doesn't look good" so the biopsy was done immediately it came back a week later Melanoma and surgery needed to be done it was schedule to be done Feb but 3 days before the surgery UHC canceled the surgery and called to tell me to find someone in "Network" I am distressed as I already am under treatment for Basal Cell and I must go elsewhere but I moved forward as my doctor said I must get this taken care of. I go to the UHC web site put in my zip code and low and behold 51 doctors come up but that was not to be so true, 10 of the doctors are listed as many as 5 times with different addresses, 4 of them are more than an hour each way to get to but none had an available appointment until March 26th and it could not be with a doctor it was with a nurse and she would decide when and if I needed an appointment with the doctor (I am not taking the treatment or non treatment of my Melanoma to a nurse!) No wonder they advertise on TV constantly any quality competent physician does not need to advertise on TV for patients! They want to bill my insurance the same amount for a nurse as a physician they are not on the same level as an MD, sorry! After much back and forth with UHC they found me an appointment with another doctor, I waited patiently for my appointment day, arrived with all my records in hand anxious to finally be seeing a doctor and moving forward with the treatment for the melanoma... NO that did not happen! Though United Healthcare made the appointment and insist this physician was in "network" his office insisted he did not accept my UHC even after speaking with UHC on the phone at length I was left with no treating physician and a melanoma on my back that can be spreading or even moving to other organs and no "Network" physician to see and treat me! I spent more than 3 hours on the phone again yesterday with UHC and still do not have an appointment for what can be a deadly form of cancer, I am 58 years old there is not excuse, no justification for this to be happening. United Healthcare decided to terminated 70% of the "Network" providers because the fewer providers, the fewer appointments, the fewer appointments, the fewer procedures or surgeries can be done and guess what that all converts to ... United Healthcare pays less money and makes larger profits without regard for the health and welfare of those of us locked into UHC until 2015!! This should be criminal.

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Harassment: Beware of Seasonal Driver Helper Asking Your Phone Number If You Are A Female Customer Waiting For Your Package

Posted by Anomynous on 12/19/2012

Rating: 4/51

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- This is a long story, but definite worth your notice, so sit back and have a cup of coffee/tea and read on....

In early November I was waiting for a package to arrive. My package was sent via UPS according to the website of my purchase. I live in New York and there was Superstorm Sandy happened at the end of October. The packages in New York were handled partially through its Maspeth facility location. Because of the storm, UPS website showed the tracking status on the day that my package was estimated to arrive as 'Out for Delievery' and the time was 5 AM for the update.

Then I waited all day at home, doing things here and there while waiting, but it didn't arrive. Around evening, I was on my way outside of my apartment building, I saw a UPS guy dressing its uniform standing in the lobby waiting for elevator in my building. Thought I didn't see him holding my package, he said 'hi', I responded 'hi.' Later I walked outside of my building, I saw a UPS truck so I walked over to ask the driver who was unloading some boxes from his truck to see if he has any more packages for my building. The driver said 'Wait for my helper, he is in your building now, and he is coming back soon.'

I realized the guy I saw earlier in the lobby of my building is the driver's "helper". Later the guy came back to the truck, he saw me, I asked him if he has any more packages to my building as I was anxiously waiting to get my package. The "helper" guy said 'No.' Then the driver said 'it may be in another truck and your package will arrive, don't worry.' So it was fruitless.

Later I went home, I checked again on UPS website, the status on the website was never updated that day, it was still 'Out for Delivery' since 5 AM that day until midnight when I went to sleep. Then the next day around noon time, the UPS website updated my package status as 'Exceptional Condition beyond control', 'Delivery Rescheduled'. It didn't say when my package would be delivered.

Around 6PM the evening, suddenly someone knocked on my door. I saw it was a UPS guy, I thought he had my package though the website was still 'Exceptional Condition beyond control, Delievery rescheduled.' I opened my door. It was the guy standing in the lobby of my building yesterday, the driver's "helper". He said "Did you receive your package?" I said "No, do you have my package?" He said "I will check it for you. What is your phone number?" In a split second, I thought there was a tracking number, is it really necessary to give my phone number? But I thought he might give me a quick call when he goes back to his truck to see if he can find my package in his truck. So I gave the UPS driver helper my phone number. The he said 'My name is Gabriel.' I told him my name, he shoke my hand. He left.

Then about half an hour later, around 6:30PM, I got a call, it was that driver helper. The phone number is 347-xxx-xxxx, it looks like a cell phone number. He said 'I will track your package for you.' I said 'Thank You.' Then he said 'By the way, you look really really beautiful, are you married?' I said 'Thank you. I am engaged.' Then he said 'Oh, engaged? But we should definitely talk sometimes, please call me OK?' I said 'thank you.' That's all I can say since you don't want to say anything bad to this person. Then a minute later, he called again. He said 'OK, I will definitely track your package for you.' I thought it was a little weird he never asked my tracking number. I said 'Do you want my tracking number?' He said 'Oh, what is your tracking number?' Then I read the number to him. He said 'I will check your package for you, please call me.'

It was a conversation going nowhere and getting weird. I said 'Thank you.' Then after another minute, he called again. I picked up. He said 'Oh, the package is in Maspeth location.' I said 'I know, I can see it on your website.' Then he said 'I will definitely find out when the package will be delivered, but please call me.' I said 'Thank you.' After another minute, the 4th phone call from this UPS driver helper, he said 'tomorrow I will definitely find out and hand over the package to you. Please call me, OK?' I said 'Thank you.'

So I picked up 4 phone calls from this guy. I went on to spend the evening with my family, later I was shocked to find out this UPS driver helper called me another 5 times at 10:42PM, 10:43PM, 10:44PM and 10:46PM. I started looking for UPS customer service information online and made a call to talk to someone at UPS to file the official complaint. UPS determined it was harassment from this person. After the phone conversation, I just found out this guys called another time at 11:47PM at night.

The next day, the third day from the original date that my package was supposed to arrive at my door step, I was waiting to see if this guy ever dared to call my phone again. It didn't happen. Around late morning, I got a call from someone at UPS complaint center, this man said 'they already took care of this and the driver helper's boss is going to talk to this guy and make sure it will never happen again.' Since I told UPS this driver helper's phone number and name when I filed my complaint last night, I figured they already found out who that was and the boss already knew it and that's why I didn't see the guy calling me again the next day. After the call from UPS complaint center, about half an hour later, a man showed up in my lobby and I saw it was a different person, and he looks like a supervisor. The man was very nice, he apologized for what happened and he explain he was in charge of UPS delivery in my neighborhood area and he already talked to this guy and he said this Gabriel was very scared and this boss made sure Gabriel deleted my cell phone number and promised never dared to call me again. I thanked this supervisor for his decision and let him to decide if he wanted to fire this driver helper Gabriel or not, all I wanted is my package, that's all.

I still have this driver's helper phone number in case I need to take legal action against UPS with the iron clad proof this guy called me 9 times in total. After all, I received my package in the evening after the supervise came to apologize to me. It was downright unprofessional and this guy's behavior ruined UPS reputation. He thought he probably was in some kind of 'Sex and The City situation' that he could get to know some girls through his delivery and had 'some fun'. It was stupid drama, things like that happened in real life are called harassment. I also learned a lesson, NEVER GIVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER AWAY, NO MATTER WHAT. What a scary situation, I will never forget. Be careful if someone asks for your phone number, don't give it away for your safety.

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Beware - Cheap Price = Bait = Cheap Service

Posted by Philip on 05/28/2013

Rating: 1/51

DENVER AIRPORT, COLORADO -- BEWARE â BEWARE â UNITED AIRLINE.
Cheap price = Cheap service.
In recent economy of America. I am an American to support America. I used UA for my vacation. But I disappointed completely after used them
Their cheap price = Cheap service = Bait.
When you start at airport you will start to pay more for their service for luggage â drinking water, etcâ¦ After all of those = Expensive price = Terrible service.

I had booked a flight from John Wayne. (SNA-CA) air port to Orlando International (MCO-FL) air port with one connection at Denver (DEN-CO). On December, 19. 2012
-On December, 19. 2012 I had come SNA-CA at 10.00 Am to check in ready by schedule.

On flight UA431 depart at1.51 pm to Denver (DEN â CO) at 5.10 pm. At that time weather in SNA-CA was good day with clear sky and temperature was 53 F. But my flight delayed 1 hour by UA operate (They delayed my flight for get more guests go to Tampa-Fl. had come in late that day) Then flight could leave SNA at 2.50 pm ( 1 hour late).

- UA4314 had come DEN-CO at 5.50pm late 40 minutes by schedule and I missed my connection Flight UA353 by schedule departed 5.40pm. After few hour waiting I feel badly by cool weather at DEN-CO air port that day (Cool- Snow â Rain) I had contacted UA customer service for a support they gave to me a phone number of their partner hotel in Denver, I tried to call them but their price was unacceptable. I contacted UA customer service again and explain my health situation that time with them and their answer was âI must stay in air port with that situation and they will reschedule my flight to earliest flight to MCO-FL in next day. If something happen their insurance will take care all.â

- Late in that day under that weather condition my blood pressure went up at air port and got an emergency service to University of Colorado Hospital that night. I came back airport at 6.00am in early morning December, 20 2012 and got reschedule my flight on UA 850Y departed at 10.15 am and came MCO on 3.40 pm.

- At MCO one more time I got trouble because my luggage did not came in with my flight. After a hour looking for my luggage I knew they came in another flight earlier my flight ( this is a deceitful and deceive of United Air Line Customer Services ).

- When I got home and received a bill from University of Colorado Hospital and Emergency Service was 15.000,00 (for about 3 hour service without any treatment) After my insurance paid a co pay is 150.00 us.

- I had been contacted Mr. Jeff Smisek Chairman of UA and Insurance department of UA to pay this Co pay. Then last their answer is âThey does not guarantee flight times and reserves the right to adjust flight times as necessaryâ
- This answer show out unrespect and unreliability of United Air Line with their customer even they was wrong of all.
- BEWARE â BECAREFUL with United Air Line.
The worst air line company Get away with them when you see UA If you donât

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Aerator Touring Midwest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Tom on 03/19/2013

Rating: 1/51

COLUMBIA, MISSOURI -- March 11, 2013 I ordered a Lawn Aerator for a Zero Turn Mower, The unit was shipped by UPS Freight with a 2 day in transit time.
The unit was picked up by UPS freight on March 13, 2013.
Friday, March 15 at 7:50 AM I received a call from Curtis in the Columbia Terminal that my freight was there and would be delivered by noon. At that time I checked my tracking number and showed it was in Columbia.
3 hours later I get a call the can not locate it, "got the paperwork but cannot find the freight,|"
I called back and spoke to the terminal secretary and she said we do not know where it is, I received a phone call approximately an hour later and was told that it was in "Springfield." At that time she said would have for Monday delivery.
As a result of this snafu on their part I lost over $500.00 in wages as could not aerate yards at $00.08 a sq ft.
No call Monday morning from the Columbia Terminal. So I call the 1-800 number and am connected to someone whose English is so poor thought I was in a preschool class listening., I gathered my aerator had been shipped to Wichita then Kansas City, Ks and would be here tomorrow as needed an extra day. The representative was to also send an "urgent message" to the terminal manager to contact me.,
Tuesday morning I have not received a peep from UPS. On Monday the pallet was 140 miles from it's destination terminal. It would make sense that it would be put on the truck to Columbia, MO to be delivered on Tuesday,
No that is not the UPS way, that are backing tracking it and as I write Tuesday Afternoon it is back in Springfield, MO awaiting a fateful trip through the St Louis Terminal once again.
If I enter the Tracking Number it has not changed since Friday, March 15. It show Shipment Has Arrived at Service Center. What a joke it should read "Paperwork has arrived at Service Center whereabouts of package are unknown.
It's trip to Springfield, Mo, Wichita KS, Kansas City Ks and back to Springfield, MO is yet to be documented let alone it's trip back through St Louis and to Columbia, Mo.
No one at UPS can tell me why it was not routed back Friday through St Louis from Springfield as it appears now to be.
No one at UPS can tell me why it was not put on a truck for Columbia when in Kansas City, Ks instead of be routed back through Springfield.
A rough calculation is that it has traveled an extra 1000 miles more than it should have been had it been placed on the right truck Thursday evening in St Louis.
Final thoughts
Never trust UPS Tracking, it is just paper work and not the actual parcel.
If UPS loses your parcel only the Gods at UPS can figure out how to get it to you the most uneconomical way.
Never trust your parcel to UPS in any way, shape or form!

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Mis Connected Baggage, Luggage

Posted by Margarette on 05/11/2012

Rating: 1/51

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA -- On Friday May 4Th, I caught a red eye from California to Richmond Virginia to attend a very important wedding on May 5Th which started at 4:00pm. I had a lay over in Chicago. When I arrived in Richmond @ approximately 9:30am, my luggage was not there. I went over to the Baggage Claim office, spoke to a representative who advised me that all she could do is file a complaint and my luggage would be delivered to me once it was located. I insisted that she get in touch with someone as I was due to attend the wedding in a few hours. She called an internal 800 number and spoke to someone who could not verify at the time that my luggage was found. She gave the baggage claim ticket number to the representative on the other end who told her that once they had not located my luggage and there was a mis-connect between flights. She then handed me a piece of paper and told me that I would have to call the 800 listed in a few hours as there was nothing else she could do and she started assisting the next passenger whose luggage was also lost. I could not accept that as I had flown into town strictly for the wedding. She brushed me off and insisted there was absolutely nothing she could do not even refund me or was willing to attempt to refund my baggage fee of $25.

I sat in the airport in tears not knowing what my next step would be but I knew I could not miss the wedding. I sat in the airport dialing the 800 number back to back just to hear the same recording, that my luggage had not been located!! This caused me a lot of stress and anxiety. I asked the representative in baggage claim if I could have the number she called to contact the person she spoke with and she told me no, it's an internal number and went on to say the next flight into Richmond was not until 3:57 and then after 11:00pm and "hopefully" my luggage is on one of those flights but there is no guarantee!!! She didn't seen to understand the urgency of the matter and how limited I was on time.

I finally left the airport after almost begging for some assistance. There had to be someone who could tell me that at least my luggage was located... I called the number over and over again and still no one could tell me where my luggage was. I finally got through to a representative she assured me that they had located my luggage but still could not guarantee that my luggage was on it's way to Richmond. She stated there is nothing they can tell me until the plane lands and the luggage is scanned off the plane.

My issue was if it was located, someone had to handle my luggage and hand it off to the ramp guy/girl. In my case I felt it should have been treated with more care and urgency and there should be some system in place to flag lost or mis-connected luggage.

I decided I could not risk missing the wedding and decided I would have to re-shop. I was tired and irritated out shopping again for something to wear to the wedding. I was very upset and did not find anything to re-place what was already in my suitcase!! I called the 800 number one last time and asked for a Supervisor. I was told the Supervisor was on another call and would call me back!! I decided that I would not make it to the wedding and cried for at least an hour because that was my reason for flying into town. I received a call back from a representative at United and was told that my luggage was on the flight due to land at 3:57pm which gave me a 3 minute window before the wedding started. I was really upset. Once I got to the airport, the President was in town and all movement had ceased.

Needless to say I missed the wedding and feel that there is something that should be done for my inconvenience. I would have at least thought there would be something documented in the data base to waive my baggage fee on my return trip maybe an upgrade to first class, a complimentary glass of wine!! Nothing. I missed one of the most important events that I will ever want to attend and am very disappointed in the way I was handled and my luggage was handled. I never got an apology or anything from anyone who represents United Airlines.

I am still upset about the entire situation and will take further action if necessary. It took a lot of preparation and planing for me to attend this wedding and I also used my PTO from work and because someone mis-connected and the way my luggage was handled, I missed it entirely. Emotional distress, anxiety, anger, depression... I missed the wedding!!!!!

Ms. Evans

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

United Airlines could have killed me.

Posted by CatSumners on 11/25/2009

This is what ensured on my United Airlines flight to Portland Oregon from Chicago

So Scenario 1:
My 1st piece of luggage, a small rolling suitcase, is stored in the overhead compartment. My 2nd piece is stored under the seat and there is no more space under the seat. I have a SMALL purse with me that is in my lap. The Stewardess comes by and insists that I put my bag up in the overhead compartment. I try SEVERAL times to politely tell her that I NEED my purse because it has my inhaler, and heart meds, which I need during take off.

At this point the stewardess gets even more rude and more insistent no matter how much I explain to her that having these items is VITAL to my health and that if I have an asthma attack I WONâT BE ABLE TO REACH THEM in the overhead compartment.. Let me specify that she was NEVER even SLIGHTLY nice from the beginning.

The man beside me, bless him, FINALLY suggests that I can put my purse under his seat after almost 3-4 minutes of this. She didnât even suggest that. She just kept pushing me to put my purse, my livelihood up in the top compartment where I canât reach it.

Now, I understand the need for her to have to secure other baggageâ¦ but instead of suggesting something else like the man beside me did, she kept trying to jeopardize my health by repetitively insisting I do it HER way instead of suggesting an alternative like the man next to me.

To show you that I was NOT being unreasonable or overreacting, BOTH men beside me said that she was being incredibly rude to me, with her attitude, mannerisms and how she handled the situation as soon as she walked away.

Scenario 2:
United Airlines seats are even smaller than OTHER airlines seatsâ¦. Literallyâ¦ Why is this? Well United airlines as 3 levels of seats (instead of the normal 2 types). The 1st is the economy seats, which is what I was in, the Economy PLUS seats (which is the same size as a NORMAL SEAT ON OTHER AIRLINES and only has 6 extra inches to begin with. 6 extra inches!!! OMG!!! Thatâs sooooooo much space!!11!11!) and a First Class section. So to give you an idea, United basically gives you smallerâsmaller than ANY other airlines, hoping that you will upgrade to the Economy Plus for 50 extra dollars.

To explain that I am not joking or exaggerating about the smallness of the seats, either, I am only 5â7 and my legs are hitting the seat in front of me uncomfortably. The man beside me is about 6â3. His legs are SO LONG that one leg is draped off to one side into the other mans leg room, and one leg is draped into my leg room because he simply canât fit his legs in front of him. I donât blame him.

So due to the tiny seats, and lack of leg roomâ¦.. after about 45 minutes after take off my legs start to cramp up badly. My circulation goes bad in my legs. I have a heart problem. This is NOT good.

(To briefly explain my heart problem, I have P. O.T. S which is a condition in which something in the brain does not send the right signal to the legs in the veins and they donât pump blood right. Because of this it affects the WHOLE bodyâmy lugs, circulation and particularly by raising my heartbeat whenever I go from sitting to standingâor any kind of posture change.)

So already I am having leg problems that are affecting my heart. I attempt to explain this to the stewardess who suggests that I walk around. I explain that it will be worse, my heart beat is already up to 115bpm (I timed it) and that doing that will make it go up even more if I stand up. The stewardess is again RUDE no matter how many times I explain to her that Iâm in distress and feel like Iâm going to passout. I finally ask to speak to someone higher up than her about getting a larger seat where I can stretch out my legs so that I WILL NOT have to stand up and she tells me to go speak to the head stewardessâ¦. After another 3-4 minute exchange and going back and forth.

(Again to prove Iâm not exaggerating at all on my claim, the two men beside me encouraged me to go up and say something)

Scenario 3:
I go to speak to the head stewardess about this problem. I am in noticeable distress. It is a struggle to breathe. I have my fingers on my THROAT to check my pulse as I talk to her and explain the situation. At this point, I am very irritated at how I was treated.

I explain to her the situation. She also suggests I stand and walk around (are these people STUPID?!) I explain that I cannot do this because of my heart problem, and that even right now my heartbeat is up to almost 130bpm at this point. If I donât sit down somewhere where I can correct my circulation ASAP I am GOING to passout, and then there might seriously be a medical emergency happening.

Woman explains that she could give me a bigger seat but would have to charge me 50 dollars. I am aghast because here I am HAVING A MEDICAL EMERGENCY and she wants to argue over pricingâ¦ and to top it all off, my heart problem is classified as a mild disability so sheâs basically telling me that even though I could be dying and am mildly disabled, she cannot give me this seat unless I pay 50 dollars right now.

WHAT THE IS WRONG WITH THIS SITUATION?? Can anyone else tell me?!

(Now, I want to state here and now that I NEVER had an issue with paying the money. The money is nothing, itâs only 50 dollarsâ¦. I have an ISSUE with how Iâve been treated up to this point!)

I tell the woman that I will pay the money AFTER talking to customer service when I get off the plane. This seems to settle it and she tells me that I can go sit in one of the larger seats.

At this point, I am even more angry because the head stewardess LAUGHED AT ME while I was explaining how upset I am by this whole situation. This angers me because while I was visibly upset (wouldn't you be too??) I was NOT rude. Whatever. I go to find my seat...

Now, being a reasonable person I choose the seat closest to my luggage I stored in the above compartment. The closest seat is diagonal to that and is an Emergency Exit seat. Thinking nothing of it, I sit down, am able to stretch my legs while sitting down, and start feeling better almost immediately.

Scenario 4:
20-30 minutes or so later, when Iâm feeling better and talking to the guy next to me, the Stewardess pulls me aside to talk to me.

In her almost exact words she tells me that where Iâm sitting is illegal due to my disability and that the cops âauthoritiesâ are waiting to intercept me at landing.

â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦What the heck?!

Let me clarify: She does NOT politely tell me that where Iâm sitting is illegal due to my disability and ask me to move.

She DOES tell me its illegal and say that sheâs sending the authorities after me because of it. What the heck?!!!!!

So I move, and I tell her so, to avoid that problem. She says if I want to do that to âavoidâ that problem that is fine. I move my seat from the Emergency Exit to another seat by some nice older ladies. They were awesome.

Scenario 5:
4 cops greet me off the plane. FOUR COPS for a girl who is 5â7 and weighs 115lbs. If they wanted to intimidate me, THEY WIN, because Iâm almost in tears at this point out of anger and the unjust situation.

The cops are actually NICER AND MORE UNDERSTANDING THAN THE STEWARDESSES. They even explain to one person from customer service that I had a heart problem and couldnât help moving my seatsâ¦. At this point in the time stewardess had reported that I âchanged seats several times without authority.â WITHOUT THE AUTHORITYâ¦ hmmâ¦ doesnât that sound A LITTLE funny considering the head stewardess TOLD me I could get another seat after I told her I would pay the money but wanted to talk to the Customer Service first??

They finally get me to talk to a woman named Pam. I am in many many tears at this point. I am extremely upset and very angry. Pam is nice and very understanding. Pam agrees to give me extra miles for my troubles, but STILL MAKES ME PAY the 50 dollars.

Let me explain why I am ANGRY about this, at this point!

Firstly, they are making me pay for a seat when I had a medical emergency.
SECOND, I only sat in this seat for half of the flight and had to move.
THIRD, they are making me pay for a seat I was HARASSED and THREATENED over.

Let me be clear. I donât want the extra miles. In fact, considering United could have KILLED ME (worse case scenario) by refusing to let me move in an emergency and jeopardizing my health, I DONâT EVER WANT TO FLY UNITED AGAIN. All I want is my 50 dollars back for my unjust treatment on their flight.

Instead of treating me like a customer with a health emergency and accommodating my needs I was treated like a criminal. Instead of having EMTs meet me at the exit to make sure I was okay, I had the POLICE meet me at the end of the flight... what's wrong with this situation? I could have DIED!

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Incompetence Unite(d)!

Posted by done-with-united on 06/05/2009

I would like to tell you about the experience my family and I recently received from our United flight. We were on Flight UA903 from Munich, Germany to Denver, Colorado on June 3rd to return from a trip to Poland. We flew Lufthansa on the way to Poland, so this was to be my first United overseas flight. The second we started dealing with United was the second the trip became one nightmare after another.

The very first issue that we had to confront was that United offers no pre-reservation of the bassinet seats. You must do this at the gate when you get your boarding pass. Once we got to the gate and reserved the bassinet seat (we were around the 3rd people in line to get boarding passes because our layover got us there many hours early), they gave me the boarding passes and said we were set with our bassinet seat, but after boarding it ended up being regular seats. When I asked a stewardess, she told me that I'd have to talk to the person that issued the tickets and she didn't have time for it. So I fought my way back out of the plane and the person greeting people told me I wasn't allowed to go back up the ramp. I explained the problem and she called the ticket issuers. After a few seconds she told me that I was out of luck because those seats weren't available anymore.

So I went back through all the people and found another stewardess and asked if she could have two of the people seated in the bulkhead (infant) area to move. She asked and the passenger told her that he didn't want to switch seats because he wanted to "be able to stretch his legs." At that moment, it should become rather obvious that they should be told to move. We had a 9 month old infant with requested bassinet seats and one of the employees screwed up and didn't do what they were supposed to. It should have been fixed. Instead, she told me she'd done all she could and it was too bad.

A lady on the far side of that row must have heard what was going on, so she volunteered to have her two teenage children moved to where we were sitting so we could take two of the five seats in the infant area. Rather than help expedite that seat change, the flight attendant simply yelled at us to hurry up because we needed to get in the air. She even went as far as to tell us to leave our items under the seat where we were because she didn't want to help find overhead space. Obviously, we're on an international flight, so where would someone put important papers such as passports? In our carry-on baggage under the seat. So I grabbed the bag that had the important items anyway and we left the baby bag because the stewardess kept yelling at us that we didn't have time. Once we were seated, we waited for around 15 minutes while the rest of the passengers finished boarding.

The next problem to show up was the baby seat belt. Every different airline we've flown on has given us a baby seat belt. It is looped onto the adult seat belt and then goes around the baby (kind of like a seat belt connected to a seat belt). United apparently doesn't offer these. I understand that they are a useless gesture in the event of a crash, but what about depressurization? What about in sudden, rough turbulence? They will serve quite well to make sure the baby doesn't fall off your lap if those things happen. Once we were airborne, the stewardess brought the bassinet. I'm not really sure what it was supposed to be when it was made, but it was essentially a baby body bag that just gets placed on the floor. Very unusual since our previous flight with Lufthansa (who is partnered with United, but seems MUCH better) actually had a bassinet that mounted to the bulkhead so that the child wasn't simply lying on the floor. It was still better than trying to hold her for the 8 1/2 hour flight though, so we just piled a couple of blankets on it and used it anyway.

Throughout the flight the service was the worst we had ever been subjected to. My wife actually received the brunt of it. When the initial drink cart came around, the flight attendant (I never was able to get his name) was completely rude to everyone. Rather than ask if she wanted a drink, or what she would like to drink, he simply said, "What do you want?" This was not done in a friendly manner. If we weren't in the middle of a long flight, I would have sat him down and explained that you do not treat people, especially my wife, like that without causing problems. The rest of the flight was the same for all situations, drink refills, the main meal, etc.

It also seems that requesting the baby meal a couple of months in advance is still not enough time. They never bothered at any point to bring it, or even ask if we wanted it. We were elated when we were around an hour away from landing in D. C. so we could get off that plane. My wife was starving, I was hungry, the baby was tired of being cooped up, and we would be able to get away from the rude flight attendants. While my wife was in the restroom, they served the snack. The same man was on her side of the isle again. He didn't bother to ask people if they wanted it. He didn't bother to hand it to the person getting it. The right side of his isle had to seats; he'd set down 2 snacks, expecting that not only does everyone want it, but they'd see to it that it was distributed for him. The left side of his isle had 3 seats; he'd do the same. With my wife in the restroom, he simply set down 2 instead of 3. He didn't ask, didn't care. I tried to ask him for hers, but he was already gone in his race to be a jerk in record time. When my wife came back, he was at the rear of the plane finishing up so she went to ask for hers. He told her, "I don't have any." Nothing about being able to help or that he'd get her one...strange that he'd have run out without even serving everyone. She started to tell him that he needs to go find one and he interrupted her and said he'd get one. Then the other attendant said that she'd bring one by in just a second since she was heading that way again. She asked my wife to go have a seat and she'd be right there. That moment never came. We finally landed and deplaned and it's probably very lucky that the flight attendant didn't come off the plane while we were waiting for our stroller because by this point I was boiling mad that he could treat anyone that poorly and not have consequences. If he were anywhere other than in the middle of a flight, I think he would probably have needed police protection from half the plane.

Anyway, much to our elation, we had to change planes in D. C. for our technical stop which meant a new crew. Thank God. We were able to board our next flight with no issues and it went smoothly. We landed in Denver and were so happy to be so close to the end of our return. We were practically finished with one horrible return trip, courtesy of United Airlines. We headed to baggage claim and called our ride and told them we'd be right out. Wrong again! Seemingly just to spite us one last time, United lost one of our bags. Wait, "It's not lost; we know right where it is. It just isn't here and won't be for another few hours." Wow...I'm glad they were optimistic about not giving us our luggage until the next day. So now, after 25 hours of travel time, we're finally home with a good dose of jet lag...and I get to go to the store since the bag they lost had all the additional diapers beyond what was in the travel bag. We did finally get the bag yesterday and are hoping that there is no way for United to reach across town and find a way to ruin another day.

It remains beyond my comprehension how an airline can be allowed to operate at that level. I can understand mechanical problems, but no one should be paying good money to be treated like a prisoner of war.

I have filed a complaint with United, but given this kind of track record, I'm not sure that they'll even read it.

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

Worst Airlines

Posted by babli on 01/18/2009

RENO, NEVADA -- TO:
The complaints department
United Airlines

Dear Sir,

This is a complaint regarding our holiday travel this year which turned into a nightmare for us due to the following actions taken by your airline throughout our journey. Hope you will take appropriate actions after verifying the details I am providing here.

was booked on United Airlines flight UA 573 from Reno to San Francisco on 19th December 2008 with departure time 6:20 AM with a connecting flight by Cathay Pacific from San Francisco to Hong Kong flight # CX 879 departure at 12:05 PM the same day with another connecting flight from Hong Kong to Bangalore ON CX 6710 leaving Hong Kong on the 20th December.

Your flight UA 573 got cancelled on the 19th of December 2008 morning. Other airline flights were departing around that time. We called your airlines at 3:00 AM when we got the news of the cancellation on the internet and requested that we be accommodated in the 9AM flight from Reno to San Francisco on the 19th because of the connecting international flight we had to catch.

We were informed that there was no way we could be accommodated in that flight because it was full. When we asked what we could do because obviously we were going to miss the CX 879 flight out of San Francisco and be no showed on that flight, a Manager from United who appeared to be very helpful on the phone said she was offering us an alternate routing through Chicago via American Airlines flight AA 1750 from Reno to Chicago leaving Reno at 1:15 PM United Airlines flight 938 leaving Chicago at 9:05 PM to London and subsequently British Airways flight 119 from London to Bangalore which would let us arrive in Bangalore on the same day i.e. early 21st December morning. We did have onward reservations out of Bangalore on 21st December evening.

We accepted the alternate routing and she gave us confirmation numbers on
1. American Airlines out of Reno # CTXPKA
2. British Airways flight 4YZ0TI

She asked us to get FIM from the United Airlines counter in Reno to travel on the AA1750 flight.
We were OK with the alternate routing and presented ourselves at the UA counter in Reno on the 19th of December at 11:15 AM. We were at that time informed that your agent might have made a mistake by rerouting us through Chicago.

We presented our confirmation numbers and said that we had accepted that rerouting.

Finally a FIM was given by United Airlines and our bags (three in number) were checked in all the way to Bangalore at the Reno American Airlines counter.
We boarded AA1750 from Reno and reached Chicago. We presented our so called pass PNR: LZ1H06 to the UA counter in Chicago.

At that time the worse nightmare started. We were informed by the agent in the UA counter at Chicago that we were absolutely not allowed to board UA 938 from Chicago to London because our original ticket was from San Francisco and the agent who had rerouted us with all those confirmation numbers had made a mistake, and we HAD to travel via the west coast because our original ticket was via San Francisco and it was “ILLEGAL ROUTE” to travel via the European route.

When we informed the UA agent that our bags were already on their way to Bangalore on the BA flight he said he could not help that.

So, we were not allowed to go to London because of the so called “callous mistake” of your Manager who rerouted us and we were put up in a hotel in Chicago that night. Incidentally your staff in Chicago was extremely rude and did not care that we were traveling with a seven year old child. All they kept repeating was it was absolutely illegal of that Manager to have rerouted us through that route. So in your airline the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. We got no apologies from anybody.

Next day morning we were sent back to San Francisco from Chicago on UA flight 885 (on the 20th of December). So we came all the way back to San Francisco and a day had been lost on which we could be working instead of going through the whims and fancies of your agents.

We boarded Cathay Pacific flight CX 879 on the 20th of December, reached Hong Kong and boarded KA 152 ( Cathay Pacific) from Hong Kong to Bangalore on the 21st of December and finally reached Bangalore on the 22nd of December 4:00 AM after an extra 24 hours of fruitless traveling as mentioned above .

When we reached Bangalore we only had handbags and none of our luggage checked in by the original UA/British Airways rerouting had reached. We had no clothes, no basic necessities traveling with a seven year old child. We had to cancel our outgoing reservations out of Bangalore that day and checked into a hotel while we had to buy everything from scratch including clothes and all basic necessities.

We were told our bags should be retrieved in 24 to 48 hours. After 48 hours we had to leave Bangalore on our onward journey in India with no luggage. The first bag was located in London and delivered after 96 hours. The other two bags were not located for a while and subsequently found in Chicago.

Those were delivered in Bangalore on the 30th December after 9 days. My husband had to come back to Bangalore to collect those bags, disrupting every aspect of our travel schedule.

Now, for the crowning glory of this trip. We had our return reservation by Cathay Pacific flight CX 752 on the 10th January 2009 from New Delhi to Hong Kong, CX 870 from Hong Kong to San Francisco and UA 6588 on the 11th of January 2009 from San Francisco to Reno.

When we called Cathay Pacific agents to reconfirm our return we were told our return reservation no longer existed because of no show on our starting flight on CX879 on the 19th of December 2008.

When we told the runaround we were given by United Airlines and the whole story we were informed that UA should have informed Cathay about the cancellation of flight UA 573 on the 19th which you did not and hence the Cathay system promptly no showed us on the 19th and automatically cancelled our return reservation

It sounds like a story of nightmarish proportions but after umpteen phone calls we were reinstated on our return flight on the 10th of January out of New Delhi.

So the outcome of all the mismanagement by your agent was:

1. Loss of wages on the 19th of December and unnecessarily being shunted to Chicago with promise of rerouting only to be refused embarkation in the UA flight from Chicago to London
2. The three checked in pieces of luggage going in different directions with one being tracked in London and the two others 10 days later being tracked in Chicago.
3. Hotel expenses, clothes, travel and every other expense while waiting for the bags to be tracked and sent to us which was done 10 days later in Bangalore even though our return flight was out of New Delhi.
4. Automatic cancellation of the return on Cathay because of the initial no shows on Cathay because of the UA 573 cancellation on the 19th of December.
5. Extreme physical and mental anguish on a vacation with a seven year old child because of multiple mistakes by YOUR AGENTS.

I hope you will check the details and get back to me with appropriate compensation.

Our whole family vacation has been ruined and I am still suffering nightmares about rerouting flights and not being allowed to board.

I also hope you will take action against the Manager who “WRONGFULLY” offered us the initial rerouting with the confirmation numbers AA CTXPKA and on BA 4YZ0TI
I will be awaiting a prompt response from you.

Barnali Hiremath MD

Was this review helpful?YesNo

Replies

United Air-Mare

Posted by SeaWitch on 01/05/2008

My daughters nightmare began Thursday Jan. 3, 2008. We brought her to the Albany International Airport (NY) to catch a 6am flight back to Reno. She was to arrive at Reno/Tahoe International the same day at 2:58pm. She called me at 9am, and several times after that, saying they hadnât left yet, and no one was telling them anything. The last time she called me was 1:31 pm, and they were still waiting to take off. They hadnât offered the passengers anything to eat, drink, no pillows, or blankets.....nothing to make the ridiculous 8 hour delay more comfortable!

The plane finally took off around 2pm, and arrived in Washington (Dulles). After layover there, and arriving at Denver International, way off schedule she missed her original flight to Reno. At one point she was even told they would fly into San Francisco, then to Reno. But she never heard anything about it from then on.

she was rescheduled to arrive in Reno around 10pm, then shortly after told all flights to Reno were canceled. In the midst of all this I had called United Customer Service a few times to find out what was going on and what could be done. As did many of the other passengers. The people I spoke to were
useless at best! I asked for an update, I asked if they could call the airports to get information and was told they could do neither! They could not help me one little bit! How ridiculous to have customer service that canât help a customer, althoough come to find out, they're CS aren't even in the USA. No surprise there!

At this point my daughter had asked everyone she could what she was supposed to do, they just kept sending her from one desk to another and none of them would help her or had any answers, so by this time she was hysterical beyond consoling so I advised her to go to the United desk and ask for a voucher or something to stay in a hotel. She called back saying they were not accommodating any of the passengers for overnight, and at that point all flights on Friday Jan. 4th to Reno were canceled as well. So that meant she was stranded in Denver for another day. Then they told her she had reached her final destination.

By then I was livid.......got back on the phone with United Customer service and told the man I was speaking to that I was NOT going to hang up, I would call back every five minutes if I had to, and he WAS going to help me find her a flight and a room, and if he was incapable, to let me speak to a manager or a supervisor. He said he would speak to a supervisor and put me on hold. Came back a bit later and asked if I wanted him to make a reservation with US Air for her, leaving at 5:35 Friday morning I said yes, he gave me all the information, told me to have her just go to the US Air desk for her flight in the morning.

She was finally able to convince one of the people at the United desk to give her a hotel room for the night, went to look for her luggage and it was sent to San Francisco. But OK, we figured the worst was behind us. Not even!
She got back to the airport in the morning and went right to the US Air desk as I was told to do, but the confirmation # he gave me was for United, not US Air, so when she went to the US Air desk, she was told she had to go to the United desk, stand in line yet again, get her ticket then back to the US Air, which she did, ran to the gate and was told it was 9 minutes to departure and she was not
allowed to board! This put her as a no show, so she had to sit in Denver all morning as a stand by. She finally got home about 5pm today. As I understand it, there were storms preventing them from flying into Denver last night, but had she not had to sit in Albany for 8 hours first, and missed all her connecting flights she would have had no problem at all.

Everything that transpired and happened to her and all the other passengers in that 36 hr period is an outrage!!

The first lady (CS) I spoke to when all this began, even argued with me the plane had already left the ground, while I had my daughter on my cell phone at the same time saying they still didnât have any idea when they would take off.
Then another lady (CS) told me she had landed in Reno!

I am totally amazed, that United Airlines operates with such incompetence at the airports, and I donât care if this sounds prejudiced, or bigotedâ¦â¦â¦.when companies out source to those countries that can barely speak English, for customer service, I donât want to deal with them. I donât know much about big business, but common sense says that in order for something to go smoothly, everyone involved needs to be able to work together. The representatives are mindless puppets. They read whatâs in front of them and are incapable of dealing with anything off the page. Why outsource at all? There are thousands of people or physically disabled adults out there willing to work from home. Why not hire them!? Thereâs no overhead, no taxes to deal with accept on their end, sounds pretty simple to me. At least they will be US citizens with more than half a brain!

My daughter will never fly United again. I will pay the extra money for any other airlines, and if I have my way, through my right to Freedom of Speech, so
will a lot of other people.